


Fragile

by shedmyskin



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: AU where the homunculi are turning human, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Here goes, Hurt/Comfort, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 18:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21059228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shedmyskin/pseuds/shedmyskin
Summary: Dante had only being lying about turning them human in the end ...hadn’t she?Envy pays an old friend a visit.





	1. What are roses for again?

“She won’t remember you.”

Envy’s eye twitched just a fraction.

“This is too corny! This is should-be-illegal levels of corny - and bad! If she was interested before, she won’t be for long! Just give it up already!”

“I think it’s just corny enough!” Another sad sap trying to fix a failed relationship with some cheap flowers? Barf.

He looked every bit the perfect combination of a would-be lady’s man and a huge dork. Made Envy wonder who raised him. Who let this man outside so he could join the military in the first place only to use all his money on flowers that nobody wanted? What were their standards?

Well, who were they to talk? They were a homunculus, and homunculi “didn’t have parents”. And that was that.

On blondie’s left, of course, mister typical voice of reason: the sort of nonentity that existed just to screen every possible risky thought, because heaven forbid something were to upset the boring human status quo. His hair was more interesting than he was.

Envy pouted and carried on pretending to find it difficult to choose between irises and lilies as the two men pricked their fingers on the thorns of just about every boring and overrated flower imaginable, wildly gasping and flailing around - just to do it all over again. Their lips twitched. They hoped the blood on Romeo’s hands would be just as grotesquely off-putting to whoever had captured his affections as it was amusing to them. Maybe the poor fool would run off and leave him in the dust for his efforts. They nearly chuckled.

Then a label caught their eye. ‘Red roses: For enduring passion.’

Not being a moron like the other two, Envy didn’t read it aloud. And they didn’t stab their fingers on the thorns because being a superhuman creature had imbued them with this miraculous ability to look with their eyes and not their hands.

And they’d heal faster than they could bleed anyway.

“Red roses: for the uninspired.” They rolled their eyes. They’d gone full moron. The labels had brought out the idiot in them.

All these flowers had some dull, insipid meaning to the humans. They wondered which of them meant ‘sorry you’re a lower life form now’; And, on top of that, if it was bad form to buy a bouquet for an old friend who worked at a flower shop.

“Having a bad day?”

Their breath caught in their throat for a moment at the sound of her voice.

Cold and calculated on the surface, with a light, playful undertone that had lured so many in before. They knew the feeling all too well. Familiar, enticing as it ever was.

Lust’s voice.

“Not exactly.” They shifted away from the roses again to glance back at their old friend.

Lust.

They’d been looking for her and she’d found them first. What dumb luck.

Dull confusion hit them suddenly as they tried to register the sight in front of them.

They could almost forgive themself for being dumb enough to believe they could talk to her like nothing had changed, but they didn’t know how they’d forgive themself for dreaming up a voice that wasn’t there.

What the hell was happening to them?

“She’s going to hate it!”

Remembering how tiny and cramped the humans’ little comfort zones were filled the homunculus with the kind of short-lived, petty amusement that would have been better savoured on missions that were more their type, and not on peacefully checking in on an old “colleague”.

They watched the blonde lovesick fool dig through the roses, too close to their own disguised body for comfort, and narrowed their eyes as the moron smiled at them obliviously like everyone was a side character in his weird little romantic stage production. Their stupidity should have made an ideal distraction to occupy the homunculus’ thoughts, but Envy needed something else right now.

Really, checking in wasn’t something Envy liked to do. Pointless conversations. Hiding feelings. Holding back. When people left, they were gone as far as they were concerned, and that was all. Well, for all intents and purposes, they supposed they could be targets. They could be prey. But that image didn’t make any sense to them in this instance either. Lust wasn’t prey. She was anything but ...

In any case, all of the fools they “checked in on” would be rotting in the ground soon enough, like everything else that crossed their master’s path. It didn’t make any sense to let their thoughts get too confused when there was an easy answer right in front of them.

Did that make Lust another fool like all the rest?

“These ones, though - they’re just like her eyes ...”

Envy found themself itching to know what the flower guy was going to go for now. Something lame? Something over the top and horribly out of character? Or would he make it halfway over to the counter just to chicken out entirely and run off? Envy just had to see that - if that was going to happen, then they might just find themself eavesdropping in quaint little flower shops more often.

Just not this one.

“Off limits” was an easy label to slap on unknown territory. And a homunculus-turned-human was just about as unknown as they come. Of course, they’d been nowhere near Lust - or Dante, for that matter - when that little miracle had conveniently transpired. Foolish little daydream dangled on a rope in front of them for centuries, turned ...inexplicable reality.

It was pretty typical, really. Well, the part where they missed all the good stuff. Not the part where Lust was no longer one of them. The jury was still out on what that was supposed to feel like. They couldn’t seem to make up their mind.

A flash of pale pink passed Envy by as lover boy finally made a decision. No other colours. The bouquet was pink. 

Pink eyes?

It was her, wasn’t it?

The one who wouldn’t remember.

It was Lust.

Envy’s fingers twitched. That proved it then. Dante’s stupid trick hadn’t worked. It hadn’t worked, or it had left a few unintended side effects and was probably going to go sideways like all of her other stupid plans. Not that they knew what this was supposed to be for, anyway. Not that they had to.

If one thing was clear, it was that Dante was basically the ultimate garbage disposal unit for hopes and dreams.

With a shrug, Envy turned momentarily to face the shop entrance again. Their work here was done then. It hadn’t worked; they’d tell Dante the news. And it would only be good news in her eyes, they guessed. She did love a sad ending. As expected, a homunculus could never become human. At least, not really.

“That’ll be 100 cens, please.”

This time they knew it was her. She was real. She was right there.

She was different.

The words sounded so stupid coming from her mouth. Her lips. Those cold lips that told twisted lies and lured idiotic humans to their deaths. That soft voice that was perfectly crafted at every turn to fool the gullible. She could have told you the sky was purple and you would have almost believed it.

“Oh, for me?”

But nothing this Lust said sounded familiar anymore. It wasn’t her.

“How kind ...”

The playful, taunting edge was missing from her voice. Watered down - no, gone completely.

She was gone.

They tried to let a part of themself not recognise her at all. Her eyes were the same - cold and hungry somehow, even in this human body. But her skin was warmer, richer, didn’t glow like cold marble anymore.

“I know, I know, it’s a long shot ...” Blondie scratched his head with a sheepish grin. His friend nudged him in the side as the-girl-who-looked-like-Lust smiled in time with his silly rambling.

“I told him it was bad.”

She laughed. “No. No, it’s perfect.”

She clutched the bouquet, placing it in an empty vase by the counter. For a fraction of a second, Envy could have sworn she looked almost tired.

She wasn’t made to serve humans. She was made to destroy them; to be better than them.

Envy glanced back at their own hands.

They remembered how she would trick unsuspecting victims with little games like this. Playing along. Smiling along. How she’d pretend to date them. To love them.

“I’m flattered,” She spoke without a hint of fatigue or irony. “How very nice of you.”

Envy gripped onto the red roses they’d been almost leaning into all this time. All the stupid thoughts and meanings every stupid human who’d walked past them had ever poured into the wretched things felt like they were coiling around their fingers and laughing at their pain. All of them.

Even Lust, or whoever she was now.

They were an idiot.

None of the homunculi deserved to taste that blissful ignorance the humans felt. They all had blood on their hands. They were all monsters. They were made to outlive the pathetic scum, not walk among them and go on stupid dates with pathetic blonde dorks who bought them flowers. 

Not to really love them.

“I never did catch your name.” The blonde asshole was still at it. And Envy wanted to know as well.

They wanted to know what had overcome her. They wanted to know what had taken her place.

She went silent for a brief moment. Then she gave a pleasant smile.

“It’s Mia.”

Mia, was it? Good. That was good. That was very good. She wasn’t the same. She wasn’t the same at all. That meant they could erase Lust from their memory until Dante got a new one. And the new Lust would rightfully keep their distance from them as well. They’d never be close. They’d never be close again.

They were tools. All of the homunculi were pawns. Envy would outlive them all, and Dante too.

They brought the thorns between his fingers tightly, and they imagined the feeling the humans knew all too well, but all that seemed to flow through them were cold frustrated thoughts that gave them no comfort.

The others kept talking, but the words weren’t making much sense to them anymore.

At some point soon after, they managed to finish up their conversation, and the two men left, laughing and joking. And Mia was beaming by the counter. It must have gone well.

What would Lust have thought?

They released their grip.

“Can I help you with anything?”

Their mouth twitched as she turned her words on them at last.

“Don’t mind me.”

They retreated hastily away from the crumpled flowers, and fled the store before she could say anything else.


	2. What’s in a name?

She couldn’t pick out a mansion oversized enough to shake the eternal feeling of being caught in a room too small with her. 

Envy tapped their foot, ten steps clear of their master’s borrowed body, watching how her hands gently traced the curves of a teacup, her waiting eyes daring them to break the silence.

“Well, she looked human enough.” Their hand fell loosely against their hip. “Guess it paid off.”

They nearly laughed. And already they’d given away so much more than they ever wanted her to know. They cursed himself for the way their innocuous words spilled out so carelessly; the smug, stupid look on their face begging to be wiped off again and again. Then they turned away at a surprisingly natural pace. Not too hastily, but without lingering.

And she dragged them back with a single word.

_“Envy.”_

They stopped mid-skip with one foot still hovering, glancing back at her expectantly.

Their name being Envy, naturally, they could list on a single hand the number of people they wanted to repeat the word back to them in any given circumstance. Probably on just about two fingers, now, if they were honest. They loved the way their little blonde nemesis spat it out, all hot and heavy when they battled each other. So rude and defiant and impassioned somehow by his stupid quest - and anything that “dared” stand in his way. They loved the shocked, strangled sound it made coming from Hohenheim’s mouth when they imagined themself standing over their “father”’s body in his dying moments. Long, painful dying moments Envy would savour for a long time to come. But when Dante said it, it made them want to commit the sort of murder that would bring them absolutely no joy.

“What a shame for you, Envy.” She let out a lazy sigh, not a hint of sincerity in her face. Because it wasn’t a shame. She loved these talks more than anything.

Envy clicked their tongue impatiently, breaking eye contact, no longer making an effort to hide their disdain.

Not that she’d let that deter her.

“What’s the problem?” They shrugged.

“You were fond of this one, weren’t you?” 

They twitched. The words dripped from her mouth like a cool venom, and the room around them, as if it was poisoned by them itself, went very cold.

“This Lust ...”

Their foot slid flat against the stone floor again with an audible smack.

“I could tell.” She offered them a small, polite laugh, looking every bit the part a proud parent who just wanted her hopeless hellspawn monster child to be happy for once in their life. Oh, but how unfortunate it was that these things always turned out so terribly.

And they sucked in a breath. “So, when are we getting a new one?”

Getting a new homunculus was easier than it seemed, but still harder than Envy had made it sound. Stupid alchemists were a dime a dozen. There’d be a new one. Eventually. Different, but still the same sin. So, similar enough. It couldn’t really get any better than that. Homunculi came and went all the time; they’d forget about the old one as soon as they got a new plaything. And her name wouldn’t make them feel anything anymore.

What hapless zombie would they dig up next?

Who would get to be the new Lust ...?

“Oh.” Dante’s eyes never left them, studying the way their body trembled ever so slightly. She knew exactly what they were thinking, didn’t she? And now, of course, it was playtime for her. Now she could be worried for them, concerned for them. _Amused by them._

She kept it simple at first. “Can’t you keep Gluttony in line all by yourself?”

“How about I get him to pay her a visit?” Envy swept a few strands of hair back over their shoulder, hand still shaking, pretending for a second that it fazed her rather than excited her when they turned cruel like this. “That might spark a memory for one of them, if not both.”

“And is that what you want?” But she’d never feared, nor mourned what they’d become; to her, they were a finely crafted weapon, and her words were fuel stoking the fire. There was a silent hunger behind her eyes as she awaited more petulant responses. More spite.

More _Envy_.

“I’ll order him to take her out of the picture.” They didn’t know if it was a grin on their face or a glare at this point. It hurt. Their facade was slipping - they knew it. But she’d stop if they fed her what she wanted to hear, right? Her hunger would subside; she’d stop goading them, right? This what what she wanted to hear, right?

The words wouldn’t stop. “If she’s really human, and she’s still a threat, she’ll be out of our way for good.”

“What a fitting end. How cruel.” She almost looked like she was going to clap for a moment. Then, “Well, if that’s what you want, then I’ll let you have your fun with them, _Envy_.”

They tried to still the room. It wouldn’t stop though. The invisible sickness all around them was nearly as relentless as she was. And it no longer mattered what they said.

“Is that what you want, Envy?”

She nearly sang their name this time. Their shoulders shook. What was holding them back? Why were they being such an idiot?

“Envy?”

Why were they being “allowed”?

They flinched back for just a second, and clenched their fists, the corners of their mouth twitching to form the sort of smile that would falter completely with just the slightest prod. “Let her die a sad human death. She can live a few more years if she wants. Get old. Rot. Who cares?”

And there it was.

“Very good, Envy.”

_Envy._

They left without another sound, and she didn’t care to follow them. 

The walls seemed to echo all around the sin as they stomped towards the main doors; like the souls she’d ripped apart to lay the foundation for the very first Philosopher’s Stone were finally tearing free, frantically making their way towards them. Suffocating them.

_Envy_.

They needed air all of a sudden, like a worthless human. They knew they had no place among their kind, but they hated it here too. They couldn’t breathe. They resented the thought of every single one of the human souls that made up the stones. Of Lust. Of everything Dante had ever touched. They didn’t want to be anything like them. How dare they taunt them? They wanted to make all of them suffer even more, like they’d suffered. They wanted to scare that stupid old hag for just a moment in her miserable life.

But she didn’t care. They needed something that cared enough to loathe and fear them. More playthings. More targets. Something to get in their way so they could mercilessly kick it down. But they didn’t like it. They didn’t like any of it right now.

They didn’t know if Envy was the only thing they cared to be when they heard their name, or if they just didn’t want to think about anything else anymore.

Their arms shook as they looked down at them, examining Hohenheim’s handiwork.

They’d never make a mark on anything that lasted. Because nothing lasted. In time, everything would go.

—

“For all intents and purposes, he is my father.” They’d said to Lust once, one leg bobbing rhythmically as they looked out over the edge of a tall building. “He was responsible for my birth, just like that of his wretched son. But who cares?” 

__

“You were human before. Like me.”

__

“I’m not like you.” 

__

“Aren’t you?”

__

For some reason, Lust, of all of the homunculi, had wanted to humour them, seemingly undeterred or perhaps entertained by their classless theatrical responses. And for some reason, they’d always been compelled to answer her. A side effect of her sin perhaps. They couldn’t really bring themself to care for the answer at first. “I don’t dream of becoming human, or anything like that.”

__

Soon she’d learn that the only thing Envy dreamed of was spite. The bitterness was overflowing every time they spoke. Soon she’d know they couldn’t help it. They were Envy, after all. They were too far gone. Soon she’d know better. “I don’t even want to be human. All the scum of the earth are humans.”

__

They couldn’t seem to stop. They thought they wanted to scare her, or make her stop questioning them so she couldn’t touch them. They didn’t want to know how it would feel to have her touch them, with her words, much less anything else. They knew all too well what she was supposed to be. “I’m not a human. And I’m not a fool.”

__

She smiled, and they went quiet. She was far from innocent, but there was a beautiful collectedness about her that they admired. Or maybe they wanted it. Wanted it for themself. That made far more sense. “Is it so foolish?”

__

They were sure when he’d heard that that they wanted to be like her. Lust. So much serenity and grace. They really didn’t think she fitted her sin at all in that moment. “I was an Ishvalan woman. I really believe that.”

__

She cast a sad glance aside, almost like she was grieving for both of them. “And although that’s behind me now, I very much hope to be human again. And it’s that hope - that foolishness - that keeps me going.”

__

If she was the embodiment of lust, then it wasn’t a disgusting uncontrollable desire that made her so. It wasn’t blood, or bodies breathlessly intertwining, or being the object of Envy’s fascination that drove her, though she could have had each and every one of them if she’d asked. “What keeps you going, Envy?”

__

_Envy._

__

Saying the word was like flipping a switch. But they weren’t sure what it had done to them when she said it. They weren’t angry; they weren’t bitter. She pitied them, didn’t she?

__

Then why did it feel so _good?_

__

They’d never wanted pity so much. When Lust said their name, it didn’t feel like that was all they were. Envy. Not just the embodiment of a loathsome sin. Not just a monster who’d been left behind long ago. Perhaps they weren’t really themself in that moment. She wanted them to be more than that; and when Lust wanted something, they didn’t want to take it away from her.

__

If she was lust, then it was a lust for life that burned at her core. A longing they were convinced a part of they could understand when she said it, in their own bitter twisted way. They wanted the same thing she wanted, then. She made the things they despised sound so beautiful. Hope. They couldn’t hope. But hanging onto her words was as close as they’d come in a long time. Perhaps they didn’t want to live up to their own despicable name when they talked. When she said their name, they nearly thought they liked it that way.

__

But that was something they might tell her another time.

__

Their eyes closed and they focused on the words they could’ve almost believed. “It doesn’t matter to me what came before us, or what’s coming after. We’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

__

—

They felt the cold air racing around them, their skin prickling. Their eyes burned, but there was nothing to wipe away. They wished the words they’d said to her would take on a physical form so they could crush them and break them a million times, and keep spitting them out until the feeling bled dry and lost all meaning, but then they remembered that they were unspoken as far as she was concerned. And that didn’t bring them any comfort at all.


	3. Suspicious activity

They had butterflies in their stomach.

Edward Elric.

The sight of the obnoxious little bastard made Envy want to hurl. It really had been a long time. They told themself with a surprising amount of confidence that their last encounters had _not_ been forgotten though.

_How were they going to play this?_

A disguise would be too irritating: the whiny little baby would want an excuse, and Envy wasn’t really in the mood for making one. And that would be _just_ what their master wanted. Oh, _poor_ Dante. Never in the mood for her _hellspawn_ making a scene. They were impatient. They’d “accidentally” noticed “Mia” tending the plants outside the shop more times than they wanted to count now.

Ugh. But they’d made a few mistakes before, and it had cost them. What if they took it out on Ed by accident? What if they made it a bigger deal than it was worth? If they kicked him in the face, they’d have to fight. They didn’t want that. The little brat looked so happy eating his lunch.

They’d have to wing it this time before any more odd feelings overcame them.

“Edddd! Buy me some flowers!”

Maybe a disguise would have been a better idea after all. Ed’s eyes were wide, and Envy could practically hear his little heartbeat pounding. Was this what drowning felt like? They were lost now.

“Envy??”

Sweet predictable satisfaction. What a stupid thing to say.

“What do you want me to tell you?” The homunculus scoffed. “No, it’s Gluttony - this is just a damn good costume! Now go buy me some flowers!”

“Flowers?” Disbelief suited the dumb blonde perfectly. “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Oh, you wanna see what _kidding looks like_?” Envy’s old voice came straight back to them in that moment. Smooth. Venomous. White sparks flew off of their body. Ed braced himself beautifully in anticipation, not a part of him nearly as out of reach as he’d probably hoped.

But the homunculus didn’t want to touch just yet.

They wanted to look like Ed’s dear old mommy right then and there, and tell him he was long overdue on the birthday gifts. They wanted to stare him down as Edward tried to hide his pitiful anguish. And oh, how he would _try_. His face was _priceless_ when he tried. Envy knew that look; they could have spotted it from a million miles away.

But the rush of excitement, the light soon gave way to dull, mundane reality. They were in public, and Ed really knew how to make a scene when his feelings were hurt. It’d be pretty embarrassing if some military mutt decided to riddle their body with bullets or something.

Did they want to be in _that_ much trouble today?

Ultimately, they decided to hold back. And they hated every moment of it. “I already showed up without a disguise. What more do you want from me?”

They didn’t know what they’d expected from their touching reunion, but this wasn’t it. They’d been too rash; they were beginning to wish they’d actually thought this through a little.

Of course, Edward’s extensive repertoire of irritated glances weren’t a half bad remedy for their hurting ego right about now.

“You tried to kill me the last time we saw each other!” Ed’s automail fingers twitched, ready to ball up and deliver a nasty punch if need be. Well, more like if he could actually keep up. And yet he still seemed surprisingly unwilling to get his “soulless” nemesis in any real trouble.

The dumb innocence was nothing new, but for some reason it always stumped Envy.

How irritating.

The homunculus tried to let it slip right past them. “Oh come on, pipsqueak, we do this every month. Why are you _being like this_?”

And with that, they gave a coy little pout. It couldn’t hurt to play just a little, could it?

“What ever happened between us?” They dropped their gaze to Ed’s human fist - the one that had actually landed a hit on them before; the Fullmetal twerp must have been raring to go by now, because it was really shaking.

“Don’t call me pipsqueak!” Envy couldn’t help but snicker. This was the Edward they knew. “And the last time I saw you was more than two years ago!”

Ed jabbed his pointer finger angrily in the direction of the laughing homunculus.

“Aww, you really did miss me!” Envy finally shrugged. “Well forgive me for losing track of time. I’ve got a _lot_ of it, you know. More and more free time, ever since _you_ got out of our way.” They snarled. Why did they snarl? Why did they spark? They weren’t ready to change their form just yet. “So get me some flowers and I’ll get out of _yours_!”

“Deal.”

Now it was Envy’s turn to be dumbfounded.

“What did you just say?”

“To be honest,” Ed’s eyes locked with theirs. “I can handle a few stupid errands with a catch if it means getting you homunculi to leave me and my brother alone.”

There was a weariness about their opponent’s expression. Like he didn’t want to fight. Like he didn’t _do that anymore_. Like he _knew something Envy didn’t_.

The thought of it pissed them off.

“Alright shrimpy, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Ed set aside his sandwich with a sigh and got up. And Envy was hit with a feeling they couldn’t quite place.

“Why didn’t you say anything, Fullmetal Short Stack? I’m talking to you!”

“Yeah, I know. Unfortunately.”

Was Ed getting tired of them already? They refused to believe it. The little idiot loved nothing more than to be right about everything. He had to argue. He had to prove a point. Without that, he was nothing more than a pathetic mess of bad decisions with no fashion sense. His whole identity was _built_ around righting some dumb wrong. Envy was not about to believe Edward Elric had learned to take anything without a fight.

“Still entertaining that pathetic little daydream about getting your bodies back?”

“Pass.” Grr. He’d learned something, alright. He’d built a layer of subtlety around him and it was still showy and obnoxious. “Still trying to mess with people’s lives so you can become human?”

A paper thin layer. That part Envy liked. There was some bitterness lurking in his words - Ed just couldn’t help himself, could he?

“_You’re_ one to talk about messing with _lives_!” Envy’s eyes flashed. Their body lit up for a second, and they hushed it. They were getting _way_ ahead of themself. For a moment they started to liken this feeling to a hungry dog waiting for a scrap of meat to fall on the floor. And they _hated_ it.

They wanted his scowls. To keep taunting him. To _never stop_. They wanted Edward to _piss them off_. They started to suspect they were bracing themself for a hit that would never come. What was the shrimp doing?

The flower shop loomed ahead of them like a gate of truth in its own right. Something felt off about it too. Envy’s mouth twitched in disgust. They felt disgusted by the both of them - and the rest of the world, for good measure. Why was everyone insisting on acting like such idiots?

Ed bristled ever so slightly as Envy looked him up and down.

“You look worse and worse every time I see you.”

“Gee, thanks. You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Oh, you think so?” The sin’s voice took on a hint of something sharp and pressured. “Thanks!” They chuckled. “Imagine! Me, a _homunculus_, getting _weak and old and wrinkly_ like you filthy humans. You’ll never know how I pity you for how insignificant and temporary your little lives are.”

“Oh yeah? Well, my condolences.”

“Don’t _piss me off_.” Envy barked all of a sudden. “You look worse than ever, by the way! Do you even _know_ who you look like right now? You _should_.”

“Hey! How ‘bout YOU don’t piss ME off for once?”

“Sorry, you two.” The sound of Mia’s voice made both of them jump. Which seemed to please her. “If you’re going to fight, you might want to take it outside.” She gestured to the flowers, squeezing one of the petals ever so lightly between her fingers. “_They’re_ fragile too, you see.”

“Lu-?!” Ed cast a bewildered glance between the homunculus straight ahead of him dressed in a flower shop uniform and ...the homunculus to his left who had just gotten the hang of wearing a hastily shapeshifted disguise in the split second it had taken him to absorb the scene that was unfolding. The one who had clapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

“Your name’s Mia, right?” The sin’s silky tone emerged once more. Not too hasty. It sounded just right somehow. They were good at this.

“It is.”

Ed looked between them incredulously. What kind of game was this?

A flash of white light caught his eye. Had Envy’s hand just sparked again? This could only end badly.

“Mia. Hi.” The homunculus was curt all of a sudden. Their disguised eyes narrowed. “Don’t mind us, we’ve just heard reports of suspicious activity in this area.”

Ed tried to tug free before the sparks flickering and hovering all around them turned into the sort of blade hand he didn’t want to get acquainted with ever again. Did she really not know? His eyes were drawn to the tiny cuts on her fingers. This had to be fake, right?

“‘Don’t mind me.’” She smiled. “That was what you said last time.”

Being in the grip of a deadly homunculus felt sharp and cold at the best of times, but Envy’s hands almost felt like ice right now.

“Seems the suspicious one here is _you_, stranger.”

The homunculus actually flinched. Ed felt it. He wondered for a fleeting second if they were about to try to take out everyone with them. Had Lust turned against them? Was he about to get caught up in the middle of even more homunculus drama? His fist twitched again. Then he noticed the flecks of white almost peeling across Envy’s face now. Their form unchanging, wavering, solid but fleeting somehow. Their features almost familiar.

He tried to nudge free, just sharp enough to make them notice. And their scowl changed to horror in an instant.

“Wait. What’s ...happening to you?” Mia’s cold eyes squinted just a fraction in the light.

Ed didn’t know what to tell her. His mouth was free now, he noticed. She still could have been an evil homunculus for all he knew. This all could have been an elaborate hoax. Or a trap.

But none of that alone could explain why Envy had bolted so fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might update this chapter. It was sort of a fun experiment a few months ago to see how fast I could get a few paragraphs actually written. Not so fast, apparently.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written a long time ago - it needs a new home.


End file.
